Côte D'Ivoire : A Succession of Unpunished Crimes: From the massacre of gendarmes at Bouaké to the mass graves of Daloa, Monoko-Zohi and Man.

27 February 2003, Index number: AFR 31/007/2003

This report examines the impunity that has generated a continuous cycle of massacres in Côte d'Ivoire. The summary execution of gendarmes at Bouaké by MPCI personnel in October 2002, has inevitably evoked memories of the massacre at Yopougon, where about 50 bodies were dumped after having been killed by gendarmes on 26 October 2000. In these two cases, the perpetrators of the crimes seem to have acted in the knowledge that they would not be held to account for their actions. The need to fight this impunity has become even clearer with the outbreak of the Côte d'Ivoire crisis in September 2002 and the series of massacres and assassinations committed since then by all parties to the conflict.